Chapter 2

Back at my house, I sat down and summed up what I had done. I'd bought a property and hired the tenant as a caretaker. I knew diddley squat about horses, just that you put grass in one end and shit came out the other. There was no doubt I could afford the place and I could envisage spending a lot of my free time there. I didn't even know if the place had a name, guess I'll have an excuse to ring Sally up.

When she answered the phone I told her that the paperwork was on it's way through the system and that she was now the official caretaker. "One question I forgot to ask Sally, does the place have a name?"

"It sure does Tony, because it sits on the bend of Willow Creek it's called 'Willow Bend', My riding stables are called 'Willow Bend Riding Academy', we teach riding and hire horses out. I also board horses for other folk."

"That's great Sally, I like the name so I won't be changing it. For that matter I won't be changing anything without your approval."

"Thank you Tony, I was a bit worried you might want to alter things, it's your right to do so if you want to, but it's nice to know you'd confer with me first."

"I hope to have a good relationship with you Sally, I won't get that if I rub you up the wrong way, will I?"

"No. I suppose not. When will you be come back here Tony?"

"Next week end, I'll probably bring my aunt and her friend with me, that won't throw you out too much will it?"

"We might be a bit shy on bed space but I'm sure we can manage somehow."

"I'll give you plenty of warning anyhow."

"I've started to move my stuff out of the master bedroom so you will have that when you are here."

"Whoa there Sally! I told you that things wouldn't change. The master bedroom is yours, just set me up in the guest room OK?"

"Thank you Tony, I'm rather attached to the room, the en suite is very convenient as well, are you sure about this?"

"Sally, I will only be a casual visitor, it would be a waste for me to use it, you go ahead and enjoy it."

We closed the call with me agreeing to give her a ring to firm up the weekend arrangements.

...

Monday I went back to work and the first thing I did was to let Sybil know of my purchase, she seemed quite pleased.

"A horse stables eh? Does the lady hire horses out Tony?"

"Yeah, that appears to be the mainstay of her business, she also boards horse for other people and teaches riding as well."

"Hmm, I think Mavis would like this place, would it be OK to come with you the next time you go there Tony?"

"Of course it would, I warned Sally that you might want to see the place, I'll let her know we will be there on Saturday. I rang Sally and let her know that this weekend was a goer.

"Would your aunt and her friend be upset if I roomed them together Tony?"

"Far from it Sally, I hope just you don't have anything against rug munchers."

"Your aunt a lezzy?"

"Yep, a dyed in the wool, card carrying lesbian. Her and Mavis have been partners for as long as I can recall. While I was living with Sybil they kept it low key; when I started college I bought my own place and Mavis moved in with my aunt."

"To answer your question, no, I'm easy around most folks. What they do in their bedrooms is their affair."

"That's great, well, we'll see you on Saturday then."

"OK, looking forward to meeting them." With that we closed the call.

...

Sybil and Mavis followed in their own car in case I decided to stay longer than them. We arrived at Willow Bend about nine o'clock, the dogs barked at our arrival and Sally and the kids came out to greet us. I introduce everyone and they helped us carry our bags into the house.

Both Sybil and Mavis had ridden in their younger days and were eager to have a look at the stables and the horses. Erin offered to give them the guided tour. A while later they returned with the news they were going for a ride with Erin, we wished them luck.

"Erin seems quite taken by your aunt Tony, she's usually a bit shy around strangers."

"Sybil has that quality that endears her to people, she is a master at making folk comfortable. Under that pleasant exterior is a woman that drives a multi million dollar enterprise, she can be ruthless. If you work for her she will ride you hard but the rewards will be more than compensatory."

"While we are on that subject Tony, I don't know much about you. What do you do for a living? It must be important if you can buy this place on a whim."

"I could afford this place because I inherited some money from my parents. There was enough to put me through college and purchase a house. Sybil made things easy for me by giving me a job with her company. I suppose you could call me a research scientist, my major was chemistry and I work developing concepts for clients."

"What sort of concepts are we talking about, pharmaceuticals?"

"No, I'm an industrial chemist, I deal with things like monomers and cross link polymers. Sounds pretty high tech but it's just trying to nut out the solution to some client's odd ball problem. It's interesting though."

"Sounds like something Erin would like doing, she's always been the enquiring type."

"When does she sit for her finals Sally, I assume this is her last year at high school?"

"Yeah, she does her HSC at the end of the year, where we go to from there I don't know."

"I don't want to pre-empt anything but I would like to talk to Sybil if it's OK with you, she might be prepared to offer her a job. If my aunt thinks she's worthwhile she just might assist her with college but I warn you, if she does Erin will need to put her nose hard to the wheel. Like I said she will ride her hard to achieve her degree, this I can vouch for first hand."

"If you could Tony it would be a tremendous weight off my shoulders. Our parents were elderly when I was born, Erin was something no one thought was possible. As you can imagine, at their age they had no hope of ever seeing Erin graduate. They died several years ago and I brought Erin up myself."

"I'm going to be a bit nosey here Sally, I don't see any ring on your finger, what's the story with the twins?"